Alice in Runeterra
by Szept
Summary: What a curious world. So much like home and yet so drastically different. It's no Wonderland for sure but what can a young lady do in it's absence?
1. Press release

An insane murderer's escape!

On morning of March 20th, the prison cell of a convicted murderer, Alice Liddell was found empty. Citizens in possession of information on her whereabouts are urged to report their findings to the nearest police station.

Alice Liddell, age 19, also called the "Fire Girl". Had after recent murder of Dr. Angus Bumby, been convicted to a life sentence in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. The convict was diagnosed with lunacy, pyromania and violent tendencies. Many witnesses have also supplied a statement of reoccurring hallucinations and suicide attempts.

On February 23th, an incident in the London Underground had occurred, a raving Liddell had entered the station and after accusing late Dr. Bumby of abuse and murder of her long deceased sister. Had on eyes of 79 witnesses, pushed her victim under the approaching train, which was to deliver his new patient.

The incident has caused an uproar in the circles of British Medical Association and among ordinary London citizens. As Alice Liddell is known to have been released from Rutledge Asylum not a year ago, with a guarantee of her posing no threat to society. After this murder however, qualifications of Rutledge alienists and the grounds for which it's superintendent remains in his position are put to question. The association has posed a request for discharge of the asylum's doctor Heironymous Q. Wilson, whom was responsible for Liddell's treatment. The statement contains a complaint against "a gruesome incompetency which allowed a dangerous lunatic to leave the facility's grounds."

The lunatic in question had been admitted to a confinement in Rutledge after a fire broke out in her home at age of 8. Where she stayed for the next 10 years, after which Dr. Bumby provided her with a job and a place to stay at the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth, where she stayed until recently and had been undergoing further therapy with the help of her victim and benefactor.

After committing the crime, Liddell had not attempted to resist her arrest and following a medical examination, had been court sentenced for a life long treatment in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, as she had been judged unfit for living in society and danger to herself and her surroundings. The judge finds a relapse highly likely to happen in the future.

On March 20th, her cell had been found empty and after through search she was found to be missing from the grounds of the facility. It is unknown how she escaped and who helped her but the investigation is already undergoing and a wide-ranging search for the fugitive is being commenced. The police urges anyone who has seen this dangerous criminal to report his findings to the nearest police station. In the interests of citizens safety, police also advices not to approach Liddell, as she is likely to be violent and poses danger to her surroundings.


	2. Through the Void and far away

This is different. Everything is different. The first sign of such noted dissidence was the fall itself. Now it is good to remember that her description of normal is ways off from that of ordinary men. For Alice, falling down (or up, she sometimes feels that sideways would also be a good direction to use) through a hole that occasionally opens under her feet is by no means a regular occurrence for most people, she knows. For them it would be a novel experience and thus different. For them it would be not normal kind of different. Shock and disbelief would be their reaction but not Alice's.

For her standard is one of a kind.

The fall, as she had taken to calling it, is a vortex. A vicious maelstrom, but no more threatening than fire contained by lamp's glass. If one does not take an action whilst in it then she would find herself hard pressed to achieve even a scratch. Should the girl be honest with herself she could tell that she does not even know how she can come to harm. As such she finds the term achievement quite fitting. No matter what is it that she finds in the hole, be it a tree, doll, rocks or even a whole building. She will not even touch them, no matter how different their opinion on the matter may seem to be as they move by her no further than an inch.

Any other person would have called the emptiness of her pathway comforting. A bit more normal. For the raven haired girl it was anything but. It started off as usual, (she smirk's at the irony of the word and it's presence in her mind) with the ground deciding not to support it's own weight. The noise, the sights, trains gliding through air, bells ringing without clapper, cards cutting pigs in half., truly ordinary fall if she may say so herself.

Then something went awry, she knows not what nor when. Only that when she noticed it, the swirling mass of her surroundings had vanished. Not the casually flying by objects only. Everything. The sound, the lights, it was as if none of it existed, along with the warmth of any kind and yet she did not freeze. No sooner than she realized the wrongness of it all did it all end. Probably. She has no way of telling with how disoriented she felt. The end came in the form of a heat wave, a powerful one, quite simply unlike any she ever felt. It came along with the sun and sand. She had never seen sand so pure, of such truly sandy quality, not really gold but on it's way there in between white and yellow if she is to judge. She imagines that is what sand is supposed to be like, every tiny grain shifting on the gusty wind, so dry it leaves not a speck of tiny glittering rocks on her skin. What a fascinating sand indeed!

She got to experience that first hand as her entrance to this place was not even remotely graceful, as it should be. Which was her second cue to the nature of this particular land. In Wonderland, her fall always (always) ends calmly, she lands as if carried by a light breeze. This was not the case this time, for she simply fallen flat on the sand, and while irked, Alice is thankful for that. Were she to hit something beside the fairly soft surface of it she would have been injured for sure.

So these are two things different by now. Were she to focus on the important parts. The third one is the fact that she is currently standing in the middle of what seems to be ruins of a desert city. A fair sight to behold, beautiful in the way that any ruins of bygone age are. Intriguing, mysterious, grand. Speaking volumes of whomever it was that had risen it from the nothingness into what it was meant to be, and the sad truth of time's passing. That death is inevitable for all things that are, only what does not exist in the first place may never be destroyed. Everything passes, this is what Alice used to tell herself when she thought of ending it all. It was hard, at times, when months went by without a thing changing for better.

Last weeks... days? Were not better in that respect. She killed Gumby and saved Wonderland, and in process herself. Or maybe the other way around, it may be that both, Cheshire said that one is entirely dependent on other. She didn't being unable to return to the "real" world. She has nothing waiting for her there. No home, friends or future to look forward to. Just more gray and misery around every corner. It shouldn't surprise anyone that she preferred to stay in the home of her own making. It would be there as long as she would. In a way, she could gaze into future with hope.

Stoics seem to be in the right though. Alice is not even surprised that just as she began believing that there may indeed be a better tomorrow, she finds herself thrown into yet another adventure.

And she knows instantly, this is not Wonderland. Too ordinary, too real. The sun is telling. It had never been anything more than a light, though even that was unnecessary, the night and by extension darkness is a relative term when it comes to Wonderland. All things are.

The landscape is solid, it is sand and ruins yes, but Alice knows that Wonderland is not solid by any measure. It shifts, flows, it's not sky or sun she should see looking upwards but herself in a mirror, or something else completely, heavens filled with red clouds of either candy or blood. That would be an appropriate sight, then again this is no London for sure, the lack of smoke obscuring the sunset is proof enough. But where could she be? She knows of African deserts yet this seems somewhat different from what books say. But does it matter? She is elsewhere and that's perhaps enough to be sure of for the time being, not Wonderland, not London, a deserted ruin.

She must admit that this sun is much lovelier than what she is used to, the city had little to offer in ways of admiring it's beauty, blood red light now coloring the wold would be drowned out by pollution lingering in the air, and Wonderland... yes it did have sunsets of similar shape though she can't by far remember ever truly having time nor inspiration for admiring them. Always chased by one or other disaster, always in a hurry. Alice rubs her arms as she feels cool air beginning to take it's tool on her. She heard that desert night's air is supposedly much cooler than through the day, that sometimes it is actually cold. She hopes that is not the case as she is not used to frigid temperatures and her dress is hardly appropriate measure of defense against them, come to think of it, her dress seems hardly fitting for a desert at all! It is another thing assuring her in conviction of this land not being part of her own mind. Her dresses always take shape of their own, fitting to any and all locations she happens to be strolling through.

The real question for the moment is what should she do in regards to her current situation, finding a way out of the city seems just as good an option as exploring it, one will lead forward into the unknown, the second may shed some light as to where she is. Perhaps wandering through obviously ancient ruins in a place she has been dropped off to by her fall is not the wisest idea there may be, or maybe the only sane choice? Who knows what manner of monsters, human or otherwise lay in hiding, but do they not everywhere? Would she be safer anywhere else? Doubtful.

She looks down at the fifth and for now the last reason she suspects this place is neither Wonderland nor London, or even Earth. Worpal Blade, just lying next to her feet on the sand, unassuming, clean, it's never clean. But while that may be remedied easily- it is the fact that it lies in the first place that unnerves her. It should never happen, when she releases one of her weapons they dissipate. And she knows for a fact that she had no weapon in London, she wasn't allowed anywhere near knives. Her beautiful dress she is not sure of, as she sometimes thought herself to be wearing it in the city but never had she had the blade on her person. Just to be sure, she picks it up but to drop it again, as expected, it doesn't disappear. Now how is she to carry it with her? Stashing it in her clothing would without a doubt make a tear, buckles in her boots would suffer a similar fate and that leaves her only with option of carrying it in hand. What a bother.

And so she chooses to remain in the ruins for the time being, It is only an hour before the sun sets, lest it deems itself above it, though it seems to be getting bigger and even more red so it most likely to comply with its own nature. For now she needs to find a clue as to where is she, shelter and food may come to be needed but that is not necessarily true, she is not hungry for now and besides, she had on occasion deprived herself of a meal, or been deprived. It's a fluid concept as to how it may have actually had happened. Standing point is that food is a thing one can get by without for a time, preferably short amount of it to be sure but nonetheless, it is not an immediate concern.

To explore a forgotten city! What child doesn't dream of such an adventure and whom truly ever gives the dream up? When first she was released from Rutledge and heard of mister Schliemann's findings she was most excited, world seemed such a vibrant place after so many years spent in asylum, she is not capable of pointing out why was she excited exactly. Maybe simply because of knowledge that there are still things to be discovered other than every day's repetitive misery. It is strange to feel excited for something she knew seeing was an impossibility. Or perhaps just the fact that imagining the ancient Troy gave her at least couple minutes of reprieve from her reality, anything was better than that.

To be sure, There is not at all much she sees that may be considered worthy of attention in the place she finds herself in right now. Crumbling walls mostly, and pillars, oh so many pillars everywhere! They seem solid stone, she had never seen solid stone structures before, she wasn't allowed to wander off too far away from the orphanage. Maybe she had seen the palace as a child but all she remembers from before is the fire. Raging and all-consuming. Images are not at all the same as reality, one can't touch a fish through paper. So it is with great interest that she trails patterns on many a pillar as she makes her way through the ruins, heading up, always up, it's a universal thing for every human to head for the peak whenever they see one. There is always something interesting atop. Be it view or leftovers from previous visitors that too decided climbing to be the most prudent course of action.

Alice supposes it to be an instinct deep buried within everyone to always head upwards. Wonderland has great many mountains, it also has great many holes, respectively containing things helpful and terrible.

It is huffing and thoroughly frustrated Alice that makes it atop the enormous dune after good amount of time spent on this effort. Terrible choice of dress, she may not be the most gifted person when it comes to her physique but the sand is simply horrid to climb! For every normal step she has to take three as she just keeps sliding down along with the sand she disturbed. Desert sand may be most fascinating but it really is behind when compared to its counterpart on the bottom of the sea.

The girl allows herself a moment to breathe before spinning around in search for landmarks, her eyes are immediately caught by a monstrous structure long distance ahead, beside that, there is nothing but more stones devastated by time. Nothing, a city in the middle of a desert. And she in the middle of it, not a compass nor map in her possession, but these aren't necessary to walk, to pick a direction and go, where she ends up matters little. It seems like there is only one place here of any importance and thus worth exploration, only one way to find out.

Better move lest she wishes to be caught outside before sunset, the sun seems to work in the same way it does back home, if she can even call London and Earth as a whole home. She glances at Vorpal Blade to make sure it is still in her hand. She knows not what to expect of this place, it seems stable but who is to say it shall remain such. For all she knows she may not even truly be on a desert nor in city, it may be that nothing is real. She stops.

"Cat?"

Nothing. There goes that perspective.

"Queen? Hatter?"

She is answered only by the wind, swirling the sand grains around her feet.

She resumes her walk, unnerved by the fact that for the first time in her memory she is entirely alone. Cat was always with her, always. She needed only call him, Alice can't remember most of the ten years she spent in Rutledge and as such does not take that time into consideration. Even in London she never felt truly alone, a stranger in crowd yes but she always felt a presence with her, watching, always watching. Her heart is filled with emptiness at the thought of loosing her... companions, for the lack of better term. Not friends, she doesn't have friends, creatures of Wonderland are horrid abominations. Cat came as the closest one to achieving the title of a friend, he was the only constant in her life, he even gave up his life, not intentionally she thinks but he did nonetheless. And he did not abandon her later. Granted, his survival depended on it but does it matter in the end? An ally is the best she can think of when it comes to naming who he is to her.

And now he's gone. He always arrived when called for, more than that, he would undoubtedly decide to reveal his self had he came along with her, she knows him well enough to be sure of it.

This is real, this place is real. No dream can hope of coming close to such perfect illusion. She feels the sand, her legs tire of walking on its shifting surface, the wind whips her skin with tiny grains lifted from the ground, it is all very much perceivable, she dreamt long enough to know the disparity.

The realization of being in the material world, wherever that may it be is reassuring. And at the same time it is not. Wonderland is her true home, it being where she belongs and where she thought to spend the rest of her life should it prove possible. Cheshire spoke of returning to the city as likely impossible, at least for a time. Being trapped in her own mind can not possibly be healthy for her waning sanity, she recognizes the fact. Thus her arrival here being reason for relief.

But all she knew to be true and not, no longer applies. This is not anything one can prepare for! It may prove to be better that way, so may she even believe but knowing to be absolutely alone is proving to be a weight on Alice's heart. It also poses a question. Did her Wonderland disappear? Is her mind healed? Is this permanent or temporary?

The young woman can't answer any of these questions. For now.

She looks upon the gargantuan structure looming in the distance, it seems not a step closer than when she set off, and she did cover at least a mile since that moment. She can only begin to imagine the size of the it. It looks to be a pyramid, Alice knows of them, magnificent tombs of ancient Egyptian kings. This is certainly not one of them, the building far ahead of her is alike a mountain were she to compare the pyramid on Earth to a hill.

She is far from home indeed.

* * *

Care for a cup of floin smoit?

Went through a process of de-fancyfication on 05.19.2014


End file.
